On the evening of June 18 of this year, my oldest daughter (12 yrs old) received her first prize award for best essay in a regionwide Sherlock Holmes essay contest! Her essay was judged against hundreds of others. The assignment: to write a creative essay about the mystery short, “The Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. She chose to write her essay from the perspective of Dr. Watson—so creative!

The award ceremony took place at a nearby public library, at a meeting of Watson’s Tin Box, a local Sherlock Holmes fan club. On this evening, the meeting of Tin Box featured a fun quiz, a presentation on Holmes as a cultural icon, and, as a special bonus, visits by Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes themselves!! Mr. Holmes gave a short talk about some of his adventures, then fielded questions from the audience. Finally, he conducted an “exercise” in which he staged a battle of wits against his nemesis, Moriarty. Of course, who should be selected at random to play the part of Moriarty in the exercise but…me! Emily also participated, as one of Sherlock’s trusted assistants. Was Moriarty able to outwit Holmes on this night? No—curses!!

Truly, I have never been prouder of my Emily yet in her life than on this night. She won a large hardback volume of Arthur Conan Doyle’s full collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, a $50 gift certificate for Barnes and Noble, and best of all, Emily’s essay has been published in a professional literary journal, Irene’s Cabinet! How about my dear little Sherlockian!!



On a sad note: Paul Churchill, the gentleman posing above as Watson (left), a co-founder of Watson's Tin Box, passed away on Nov. 7, 2008, about 4 months after Emily received her award. He was a sweet old man.